In the Digital era libraries are leading the charge for eBook lending and many customers exclusively are getting their reading fix whether they have an e-reader or a tablet computer. Many libraries when you sign up for a book that is lent out will send you a link to download it when it becomes available. After a few weeks the book will expire and then get sent back to the pool of lend-able books. This is all changing with a recent decision by Harpercollins to limit the amount of lending each book has.
Libraries all over the world who lend books out digitally are up in arms and many are calling for a boycott of all Harpercollins Publishing books. Recently the company changed a longstanding decision for unlimited downloads of their ebook to it now expiring after 26 times lent out. Libraries are now having to buy the same book over and over in order to lend it to patrons.
With its tangible books the library sometimes lends the same book out many times per month for sometimes 25 years. With the call to eliminate the ebook after 26 reads it is challenging libraries to allocate a growing part of their budget in order to purchase more ebooks. This call is unjust and many libraries are wanting you to sign a petition HERE.
For its part, HarperCollins Publishers says it’s trying to find the business model that’s right for everyone.
The company publishes romance novels and young adult books — genres that tend to fly off the shelves at local libraries.
via ozarkfirst
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
